4040 LyoTec® Stoppers

Fran DeGrazio is an industry leader with over 35 years of experience in technical product development, quality, regulatory, marketing, and business strategy. Prior to retirement in 2022, DeGrazio was West Pharmaceutical Services’ Chief Scientific Officer and led a legacy of innovation through Quality by Design (QbD) and leading patient-centric elastomer components. Before her retirement I had the opportunity to discuss the development of 4040/40 gray formulation as the newest addition to West’s quality by design program the formula journey, the evolution and its importance in the marketplace.

West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc., a global leader in innovative solutions for injectable drug administration, has released its 4040 LyoTec® Westar® Select Ready-to-Sterilize (RS) and Ready-to-Use (RU) Lyophilization Stoppers, the first components of a portfolio of vial closures to be developed using West’s new state-of-the art elastomer formulation, 4040/40 gray.  By combining the demonstrated success of an established design and significant levels of expertise in testing and raw material selection, we have achieved improvements and optimized benefits across the spectrum of packaging attributes required for performance, quality, and safety of the packaging and delivery of lyophilized drug products.

Selecting a container closure system (CCS) is an important part of the pharmaceutical commercialization process. It is important to ensure that the components selected are compatible with the drug product to be packaged; however, it is equally important to ensure that the components are compatible with each other. Here we provide background on the importance of correct pairing between vials and stoppers and showcase lyophilization stoppers V-50-I (13mm) and S-87-I (20mm) in the 4040/40 Gray formulation that can be paired with any vial blowback geometry.